Computer keeps restarting; can't figure out why

[anthony1]

My computer that I built randomly restarts during gaming. I can't seem to solve the problem. It recently just restart on me while playing the Sims 2. The screen just went black and the computer just restart as if I had pushed the manual restart button. The specs are:

- AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ (3.2 Ghz)
- OCZ Gold OCZ2G8002GK 2 x 1GB DDR2 800
- ASUS 20X DVD+RW
- PC Power & Cooling 750 W Silencer
- GIGABYTE GA-M57SLI-S4 Mobo
- XFX GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB

I recently changed the PSU to the Silencer which made my computer a lot more stable than it was before, but it still restarts randomly. I ran memtest and it detected no errors. The settings for the RAM (as listed on newegg) are 5-5-5-12 @ 2.1 V, however CPU-Z says its running 5-5-5-15 @ 1.8 V. I don't really know anything about the RAM and if this might cause problems. Everything is up to date, unless there are drivers for the PSU that I don't know about.

Does anyone have any other idea of what might possibly cause a problem? Thank you for any help you can give.

 

[dagger]

What temperature? And did you stress test cpu with prime95?

 

[anthony1]

The hottest the CPU gets is almost 60 degrees C. I have not run prime95. What is it and what would the results indicate?

 

[dagger]

The hottest the CPU gets is almost 60 degrees C. I have not run prime95. What is it and what would the results indicate?

60 degrees C when not on full load is quite bad. Prime95 is meant as mathmatical calculation utility, but geeks use it to stress cpu and see if it's stable. Run it.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Prime95_d4363.html

 

[anthony1]

Sorry, I should have specified.

No load - 32 degree C
Full load - almost 60 degrees C

 

[dagger]

Sorry, I should have specified.

No load - 32 degree C
Full load - almost 60 degrees C

That's not bad. What about stability? Is prime95 reporting any errors? It should run without errors for at least 1 hour. If it's prime95 stable, there is no way it should crash just because of sims2. You should be able to rule out cpu as possible cause.

 

[notherdude]

The settings for the RAM (as listed on newegg) are 5-5-5-12 @ 2.1 V, however CPU-Z says its running 5-5-5-15 @ 1.8 V.

Yes! This can cause problems. Go into your CMOS setup and manually adjust to the recommended settings. Particularly the 2.1 v.

 

[fjabad]

CPU-Z shows RAM voltage??

where? screenshot please?

Anyway, running your memory at 1.8V is the problem. bump it to 2.1 or 2.2 in BIOS.

 

[nukemaster]

What operating system?

Have you tried backing off the the last Nvidia drivers? 169.21

User driver cleaner pro to fully remove the current set, restart. cancel any new hardware wizards and the try the older drivers.

Driver Cleaner Pro
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=745

Nvidia drivers archive(select you os ect)
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/Find.aspx?lang=en-us

 

[anthony1]

Thanks to everyone for all your help. By the way, I am using Vista 32 bit.

I used Prime95 to stress the CPU. It completed a few runs until it said something like 'test passed'. I don't know if this is adequate enough.

I think CPU-Z shows the RAM voltage, but like I said, I don't really know anything about memory or this program. Here is a link showing what CPU-Z says about the memory.

I tried to change the setting for the RAM voltage, except there is no voltage control. The closest thing is DDR2 voltage, but it only allows you set a deviation, such as +.05, +.125, etc. It doesn't even say the voltage of the RAM.

I have not tried the old Nvidia drivers. I currently have 175.16. I could give that a try. Why would this work tho?

 

[nukemaster]

Some times Nvidia does not do enough testing. if that works you can e-mail them and they will try to fix it in the next driver release.

Point in case Vista 64 175.16 City Of Heroes, random grey screens. 169.21 all gone. I am still testing before i send a report to them.

On XP once of there beta's busted that game too(made it have random shuddering).

Not saying its this in all cases, but its worth a shot.

Last time something happened on XP, it was a beta, but it looks like this driver may have been rushed out

Hi Richard,
Thanks for waiting. From your description, it looks like a driver regression. Our engineers probably inadvertently broke something in the code. If you want, we can share your feedback with our team. For now, you may want to stick with the non-beta driver that works. To make sure I am not overlooking anything, do you have problem with other game titles using the new and previous drivers?

Best regards,
David

In the next drive the problem WAS fixed....

 

[rgsaunders]

set dd2 voltage deviation to +.3 - the default voltage for dd2 on gigabyte boards is 1.8V. This ram requires 2.1V to be stable at 5-5-5-15 which is where it should be set, CPU-Z reads the SPD on the memory.

 

[nukemaster]

You may need to hit CTRL + F1 on the main bios screen to unlock the ddr2 over voltage option.

But if its passing memtest it may be fine, I have seen ram rated 4,4,4,12 @ 2.2 run fine at 2.0

 

[Alastair smith]

1. Check whether your bios is up to date.
2. Check whether your Graphics driver is up to date.
3. Make sure auto update is always turned on.
5. Stress test your CPU & GPU, if the temps are too high change the the thermal compound of both the CPU and GPU. Here are links which may help you, For changing CPU thermal paste https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRRWbQUqW1Y and for changing GPU thermal paste https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDLQ7FjPMf8
6. Make sure your RAM is working in good condition, here is a link which may help you http://www.wikihow.com/Test-Your-Computer%27s-Ram
7. You can avoid this step if you want to, check whether your PSU is in good working condition or not, here is a link which may help you http://www.wikihow.com/Check-a-Power-Supply
8. Make sure your HDD or SSD is good or not, here is a link which may help you http://www.wikihow.com/Tell-if-a-Hard-Drive-Is-Bad

Hope this helps you.